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Friday, September 24, 2004

THE BATMAN UPDATE

Bane makes his first appearance in Kids' WB!'s The Batman on Saturday, as the villain in the "Traction" episode.

Supervising producer Duane Capizzi described The Batman's version of Bane for The Continuum.

"Our Bane's origin, as eluded to in the episode, is consistent with status quo -- mercenary, subject of experiments in Amazon," Capizzi told The Continuum. "The key thing that sets our Bane apart is in design: he's 'Bane Extreme.' Jeff Matsuda really pushed the envelope with the strength Bane gains from his chemical infusions -- it literally transforms him. He's very intense."

In other The Batman news:

* Beginning Monday, a custom comic of The Batman Strikes will come free with the purchase of a Burger King Kids Meal at participating Burger King Restaurants.

Participating restaurants will distribute six million DC Comics custom comics, including two million copies of The Batman Strikes #1, as well as custom comic editions of Looney Tunes. The custom comic edition of Batman Strikes contains content from the first two issues of the series, as well as a word search, coloring pages, and a reprint of a classic Batman adventure, "The Batman Nobody Knows!" written by Frank Robbins with art by Dick Giordano.

"DC Comics has developed an excellent relationship with Burger King," said David McKillips, DC's Vice President of Advertising & Custom Publishing. "We have worked with them on promotions for both JLA and Batman Beyond and with all of the excitement for The Batman animated show, it was time to work with them again."

* On Saturday, Sept. 18, The Batman led the network to rank No. 1 in the key demographics of Boys 6-11, Tweens 9-14 and Male Tweens 9-14. At 10:30 a.m., The Batman built on its debut delivering what the network called "significant" week-to-week gains among Kids 2-11, Boys 2-11, Girls 2-11, Girls 6-11 and Tweens 9-14. For the morning the show finished as the No. 3 program in Male Tweens 9-14 and No. 4 in Boys 2-11, Boys 6-11 and Tweens 9-14. Among the broadcast competition, the Dark Knight ranked as the No. 2 program in Kids 2-11 and No. 4 in Kids 6-11 (3.5/15).

SMALLVILLE UPDATE

ABC Family has provided The Continuum with a preview image of Smallville stars John Schneider, Annette O'Toole and Tom Welling from The Smallville Backstage Special.

The special will premiere on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m., following a six-hour marathon

In other Smallville news:

* According to The WB, Wednesday's fourth-season debut finished second in its time period in seven key demographics -- adults 18-34 (3.7 rating/12 share), persons 12-34 (3.4/12), women 12-34 (3.6/11) and men 12-34 (3.2/12).
Smallville ranked No. 3, ahead of NBC, Fox and UPN in every other key demo, including adults 18-49 (3.0/9), women 18-49 (3.1/8) and women 18-34 (3.8/11). Smallville also built on, or maintained, its year-ago premiere audience in women 18-34 (3.8/11), women 12-34 (3.6/11), adults 18-49 (3.0/9) and women 18-49 (3.1/8). Smallville was one-tenth of a ratings point off of last yearıs premiere in adults 18-34 (3.7/12).

* The WB has released four new promotional images from the show, featuring Welling (Clark) and Erica Durance (Lois). Click on the thumbnails below for fuller and larger images.

STATIC SHOCK ON CARTOON NETWORK

The series, which ran four seasons and 52 episodes on Kids' WB!, will air Monday-Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. (ET).

Cartoon Network is picking up from the first season of the show and airing the episodes in order.

Upcoming episodes include "Shock to the System" on Monday, Sept. 27; "Aftershock" on Tuesday, Sept. 28; "The Breed" on Wednesday, Sept. 29; and "Grounded" on Thursday, Sept. 30.

MIDNIGHT NATION BACK TO PRESS

Top Cow hasannounced that Midnight Nation, the 12-issue series from writer J. Michael Straczynski, is going back to press with a bonus for fans: A new, lower price.

The tale of loss and redemption illustrated by Gary Frank originally saw print from 2000-2002, and became one of the best-selling trade paperbacks from publisher Top Cow Productions and Image Comics. Now, the 304-page collection, which includes all 12 issues, plus Midnight Nation #1/2 and a cover gallery, is back in print. The new edition hits stores in December, with a cover price of $24.99 , a $5 savings from its previous $29.99

"Of all the work I've done in comics, and a lot of the work I've done in TV, the one thing of which I'm most proud is Midnight Nation," Straczynski said. "It remains a very emotional story, raw and unremitting in places, tender and gentle in others.

"Every once in a while, everything comes together perfectly, and Gary Frank's art is the embodiment of that. It's beautiful to look at, and achingly real through the emotions he draws out of his characters. I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone, especially those new to the form who wouldn't normally buy a graphic novel."

DEAD@17/MISPLACED CROSSOVER

Viper Comics is teaming with Devil's Due Publishing in December for a 48-page one-shot crossover between Misplaced and Dead @17 called Misplaced @17.

The one shot will be written and illustrated by Devil's Due's Josh
Blaylock, featuring a back-up story written by Josh Howard.

Here's how Viper describes the book:

"In the crossover Misplaced star, Alyssa, returns from her trip to REALM 77 (the dimension she comes from ) after the adventures in Misplaced #4. She's finally able to settle down on Earth for a while, or so she thinks, but three people have followed her through the portal -- other 'Realmers.'

"The problem is, Alyssa's long gone by the time they arrive, and a rogue follower of Bolabogg, named Brother Junius, has come to investigate the portal. Meanwhile, it turns out that Alyssa has returned to a part of Earth near Darlington Hills and Dead@ 17's Nara Kilday. Things get very interesting as a turn of events finds Alyssa and Nara rooming together, and each one trying to conceal each other's powers from one another."

BRIEFLY

Oni Press has announced a Dec. 22 release of Love Fights Volume 2, a trade paperback collecting the final six issues of Andi Watson's series. The 160-page book will cost $14.95. Click on the thumbnails above for preview pages.

Here's a first look at the new poster for Blade: Trinity, featuring Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

IPW Productions has acquired the feature-film rights to Groo the Wanderer from Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier.

Coming Saturday: IDW news -- and much more!!!

COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES

In case you missed The Continuum's recent coverage, here are some links: